NASA Unpacks 'Trunk' of SpaceX Cargo Capsule

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NASA engineers used a robotic arm today (March 6) to unpack the
first exterior cargo ever delivered to the International Space
Station by an American-built commercial supply ship.

A robotics team at NASA Mission Control in Houston remotely
controlled the space station's 58-foot (17 meters) Canadarm2
robotic arm to unload two so-called grapple bars from the
unpressurized "trunk" of the privately built unmanned
Dragon space capsule. The Dragon's trunk is a cylindrical
cargo section beneath the spacecraft's re-entry module.

The Dragon spacecraft, built by the private spaceflight company
SpaceX,
launched to the space station on Friday (March 1) and arrived two
days later to deliver about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of
supplies to the orbiting lab. The mission is SpaceX's second of
12 commercial cargo deliveries for NASA under a $1.6 billion
agreement.

SpaceX launched a demonstration flight to the space station last
May, and its first cargo delivery in October. But both of those
missions only carried items inside the Dragon's pressurized
re-entry capsule, which is accessible to astronauts on the
station through a docking hatch. [ See
photos of Dragon's space station arrival ]

Today's robotic arm work marked the first time SpaceX has ever
delivered gear meant for the outside of the space station using
the Dragon's trunk, company officials have said. SpaceX built the
support hardware holding the grapple bars in place on the Dragon
capsule, they added.

The six astronauts living aboard the space station unloaded the
pressurized cargo section by Monday (March 4), leaving only the
grapple bars to be retrieved.

"These bars, which together weigh about 600 pounds [272
kilograms], can be used to remove failed radiators on the
station’s S1 and P1 truss segments, should that ever be deemed
necessary," NASA officials said in a statement.

The grapple bars will be stored in a temporary spot on the
International
Space Station exterior for now, but will eventually be
mounted to a permanent storage point, NASA officials wrote in a
statement.

With the Dragon capsule empty, the station crew will soon start
loading the capsule with 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms) of
experiments and unneeded items for the spacecraft's return to
Earth on March 25. The Dragon is expected to splash down off Baja
California in the Pacific Ocean so it can be retrieved by
recovery teams.

Various space agencies are expecting items to return to Earth on
board Dragon. For example, stem cells and hair that are currently
being used in experiments on the station will be sent down with
Dragon for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is one of two companies with
billion-dollar contracts to supply cargo missions to the space
station for NASA. The other company, Orbital Sciences Corp. of
Virginia, has a $1.9 billion contract with the agency for eight
resupply missions to the station using the new Antares rocket and
Cygnus spacecraft.

NASA is relying on privately built spacecraft to ferry cargo —
and ultimately astronaut crews — to and from the International
Space Station. With the retirement of its space shuttle fleet in
2011, NASA is currently dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to
launch American astronauts to the space station.